Method for wirelessly recharging electric vehicle using visible light communication and vehicle for carrying out the same

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a method for efficiently retrieving a charger to supply electric power to an electric vehicle and achieving maximum wireless recharging efficiency, using visible light communication, upon wirelessly recharging the electric vehicle. Wireless visible light communication can be realized, using the existing head lamp installed at the vehicle. Accordingly, it is unnecessary to provide separate communication equipment. In addition, enhanced physical security, efficient charger retrieval, and maximum wireless recharging efficiency can be achieved by virtue of straightness of light.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of the Korean Patent Application No.10-2014-0188474, filed on Dec. 24, 2014, which is hereby incorporated byreference as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for effectively wirelesslyrecharging an electric vehicle using visible light communication and avehicle capable of carrying out the same.

Discussion of the Related Art

A wireless recharging system for an electric vehicle is a system forrecharging a battery of a vehicle without requiring cable connectionunder the condition that the vehicle is parked at a particular location.Such a wireless recharging system uses an electromagnetic inductionmethod using coils or a method using resonance. In this case, however,the distance between the coil of the electric vehicle and the coil ofthe charger should be within a certain range in order to enablerecharging of the electric vehicle using the above-mentioned method.When the electric vehicle moves outside of the range, rechargingefficiency may be abruptly reduced and, as such, an excessive financialburden may be imposed on the user, as compared to the amount ofrecharge.

Currently, there is no wireless recharging system commercially availablefor electric vehicles although such a wireless recharging system isbeing developed by some companies. In order to eliminate problemsobstructing commercial availability of such a wireless rechargingsystem, it is necessary to secure desired wireless rechargingefficiency, and to complement a charger retrieval procedure forcommunication with a charger to execute wireless recharge. Although thecharger retrieval procedure should be necessarily executed for exchangeof billing information, there is a problem in that, when there is aplurality of wireless chargers, to simultaneously recharging a pluralityof vehicles, it is difficult for each vehicle to designate acorresponding one of the wireless chargers to supply electric powerthereto through general wireless connection in order to automaticallyconnect the corresponding wireless charger thereto.

Such a problem will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 is a view explaining a problem occurring when a plurality ofelectric vehicles is simultaneously recharged in a wireless manner.

Referring to FIG. 1(A), in a wired recharging system, an electricvehicle 110 is connected to a charger 120 via a power line in a wiredmanner. In this case, the possibility of mismatch between the vehicle110 and the charger 120 in setting of a recharging amount and exchangeof billing information is very low because communication between thevehicle 110 and the charger 120 can be achieved through power linecommunication (PLC).

However, there may be a situation that two vehicles 110A and 110 b aresimultaneously recharged in a wireless manner in a recharging stationprovided with a plurality of wireless chargers 131, 132, and 133, asshown in FIG. 1(B). In this case, it may be assumed that electric poweris supplied to the left vehicle 110A through the left charger 131 whilebeing supplied to the right vehicle 110B through the right charger 133under the condition that there is no physical connection between thecorresponding vehicle and charger. In this regard, setting of arecharging amount and exchange of billing information must also becarried out in a wireless manner. However, when charger-and-vehicleconnection is simply achieved based on intensities of wireless signals,there may be an occasion that the left vehicle 110A is wirelesslyconnected to the right charger 133, and the right vehicle 110B iswirelessly connected to the left charger 131 and, as such, billinginformation may be mistaken between the two chargers. For this reason,correct charger retrieval is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method forwirelessly recharging an electric vehicle using visible lightcommunication and a vehicle for carrying out the same that substantiallyobviate one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of therelated art.

An object of the present invention is to provide a retrieval methodbetween a vehicle and a charger in order to achieve efficient andcorrect connection between the vehicle and the charger, which currentlyexecute recharging operation.

Additional advantages, objects, and features of the embodiments will beset forth in part in the description which follows and in part willbecome apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art uponexamination of the following or may be learned from practice of theembodiments. The objectives and other advantages of the embodiments maybe realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out inthe written description and claims hereof as well as the appendeddrawings.

To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with thepurpose of the embodiments, as embodied and broadly described herein, awireless recharging system of a vehicle includes a light emitteroperating as a transmitting stage of visible light communicationrecognized by a wireless charger, a wireless charging unit for receivingelectric power from the wireless charger, a wireless communication unitfor transmitting and receiving data to and from the wireless charger ina wireless manner, and a controller for performing a control operationto transmit identification information of the wireless communicationunit to a light receiver of the wireless charger via the light emitter,a control operation to receive, from the wireless charger, informationof the wireless charger when the wireless charger is connected to thewireless communication unit, using the identification information, and acontrol operation to start wireless recharging through the wirelesscharging unit, using the information of the wireless charger.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method for controlling awireless recharging system of a vehicle includes transmittingidentification information of a wireless communication unit to a lightreceiver of a wireless charger via a light emitter, receiving, from thewireless charger, information of the wireless charger when the wirelesscharger is connected to the wireless communication unit, using theidentification information, and starting wireless recharging through thewireless charging unit, using the information of the wireless charger.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description of the present invention areexemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide furtherexplanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention andalong with the description serve to explain the principle of theinvention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are views explaining a problem occurring when aplurality of electric vehicles is simultaneously recharged in a wirelessmanner;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure ofconnecting a vehicle to a wireless charger, using visible lightcommunication, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 3C are views illustrating an example of aprocedure of guiding a vehicle to a correct parking position, usingvisible light communication, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a recharging systemin an electric vehicle according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and thesame or similar elements are designated by the same reference numeralsregardless of the numerals in the drawings and redundant descriptionthereof will be omitted. The suffixes “module” and “unit” of elementsherein are used for convenience of description and thus can be usedinterchangeably and do not have any distinguishable meanings orfunctions.

In the following description of the present invention, a detaileddescription of known functions and configurations incorporated hereinwill be omitted when it may obscure the subject matter of the presentinvention. Meanwhile, while the present invention is susceptible tovarious modifications and alternative forms, specific embodimentsthereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein bedescribed in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is nointent to limit the present invention to the particular forms disclosed.On the contrary, the present invention covers all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

In the present invention, it is proposed that visible lightcommunication based on straightness of light be utilized in order toachieve parking of a vehicle at a correct location for retrieval of acorrect charger and maximization of wireless recharging efficiency.

Visible light communication is a wireless communication technology fortransmitting information in a wireless manner, using light of a visiblewavelength range that is visible to the naked eye. Such visible lightwireless communication technology is distinguished from existing wiredoptical communication technologies and infrared wireless communicationtechnologies because light of a visible wavelength range is used. Thevisible light wireless communication technology is also distinguishedfrom wired light communication technologies because communication iscarried out in a wireless environment. Furthermore, the visible lightwireless communication technology is convenient in that it can be freelyutilized without any restriction or permission in terms of use offrequencies, as compared to radio frequency (RF) wireless communicationtechnologies. In addition, it may be possible to enhance physicalsecurity by virtue of straightness of light as mentioned above. It mayalso be possible to achieve retrieval of a correct charger and maximumwireless recharge efficiency, using such light straightness. As anexample of a visible light emitter for visible light wirelesscommunication, there is a light emitting diode which has been widelyused in head lamps, signal lamps, etc. of vehicles in recent years.

Visible light wireless communication may be divided into two methods inaccordance with whether or not there is a light receiver for visiblelight communication. When there is no light receiver in a vehicle, acharger attempts wireless connection to the vehicle, using informationtransmitted from the vehicle. In this case, the vehicle receivesinformation from the charger, and then carries out wireless recharging.On the other hand, if there is a light receiver in the vehicle, thevehicle may additionally execute a procedure of receiving a guide signalto guide the vehicle to be accurately parked on a coil pad from thecharger through visible light communication. When information of thecharger is received in addition to the guide signal, the vehicle mayattempt wireless connection to the charger.

Hereinafter, the above-described procedure will be described in moredetail with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure ofconnecting a vehicle to a wireless charger, using visible lightcommunication, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

First, the case in which there is no light receiver in a vehicle will bedescribed.

When the vehicle enters a wireless recharging station (S210), the driverparks the vehicle at a location corresponding to a desired wirelesscharger (namely, on a charging pad or in front of a light receiver forvisible light communication of the wireless charger). Thereafter, thedriver may input a wireless charging command to the vehicle.

In response to the wireless charging command, the vehicle may transmit,via a light emitting device, for example, an LED, a connection signal tothe light receiver for visible light communication of the wirelesscharger to execute wireless recharging under the condition thatidentification information of the vehicle is included in the connectionsignal (S220). Here, the identification information may include avehicle identification number, an address of a Bluetooth device(BD_ADDR), a Wi-Fi media access control (MAC) address, access passwordsaccording to respective communication schemes, etc.

Since there is no light receiver for visible light communication in thevehicle, the vehicle cannot receive visible light for communicationtransmitted from the wireless charger (S230), the charger directlyattempts wireless connection to the vehicle, using the identificationinformation of the vehicle (S240).

When wireless connection is successful, the vehicle receives informationof the charger in a wireless manner (S250). Accordingly, the vehicle andcharger may carry out setting of a recharging amount and exchange ofbilling information, and may then start charging (S260).

Through the above-described procedure, it may be possible to achieveaccurate matching between the vehicle and the charger. When this methodis used, it is unnecessary to provide a light receiver for visible lightcommunication at the vehicle. In addition, there is an advantage in thatit is unnecessary to provide a separate light emitter for transmissionof wireless communication identification because the LED of the existingheadlight is utilized for wireless communication identification.Furthermore, when the light receiver of the wireless charger is arrangedat a position where the light receiver of the wireless charger canreceive light from the headlight of the vehicle only when the vehicle isaccurately parked on a charging pad, at which a coil of the charger isinstalled, the user may recognize that the vehicle has been parked at alocation where efficient recharging is impossible, when wirelessconnection cannot be achieved.

Next, the case in which there is a light receiver in the vehicle will bedescribed.

When a light receiver is provided at the vehicle, the vehicle canreceive a signal transmitted from the charger through visible lightcommunication at S230. When the parked position of the vehicle withrespect to the charging pad is incorrect (S270), the signal transmittedfrom the charger may include guide information as to correct position(namely, direction/distance required for additional movement).Transmission of such guide information may be repeatedly executed untilthe vehicle is completely moved to the correct position (S280).

In this case, left and right headlights of the vehicle may transmitdifferent identification information for determination of whether thevehicle has been parked at the correct position. A procedure of guidingthe vehicle to the correct parking position using the above-describedmethod will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a procedure of guiding the vehicle to acorrect parking position, using visible light communication, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, it is assumed that the charging pad is arranged in front ofthe light receiver of the wireless charger.

When the vehicle is positioned right with respect to the light receiverof the wireless charger, as illustrated in FIG. 3(a), the light receiveronly receives identification information representing the leftheadlight. In this case, the wireless charger may transmit, to thevehicle, information requesting the vehicle to move left.

On the other hand, when the vehicle is positioned left with respect tothe light receiver of the wireless charger, as illustrated in FIG. 3(b),the light receiver only receives identification information representingthe right headlight. In this case, the wireless charger may transmit, tothe vehicle, information requesting the vehicle to move right.

Meanwhile, when the light receiver can receive identificationinformation from both headlights through visible light communication, asillustrated in FIG. 3(c), the wireless charger may then attempt wirelessconnection to the vehicle, using the identification informationpreviously transmitted from the vehicle (S230) or may transmit chargerinformation to the vehicle through visible communication (S250), toenable the vehicle to attempt wireless connection to the charger.Alternatively, once the vehicle is parked at the correct position, thecharger and the vehicle may establish wireless connection to carry outsetting of a recharging amount and exchange of billing information. Andthen, wireless charging the vehicle may be started (S260).

Hereinafter, the configuration of an apparatus for carrying out theabove-described methods will be described.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a recharging systemin an electric vehicle according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the recharging system of the electric vehicleaccording to the illustrated embodiment of the present invention mayinclude a light emitter 410, a light receiver 420, a wireless chargingunit 430, a wireless communication unit 440, and a controller 450 forgenerally controlling operations of the above-described constituentelements.

The light emitter 410 may function as a transmitter in execution ofvisible light communication. When the headlights of the vehicle areconstituted by LEDs, they may also perform the light emitter function.When the headlights are of a bulb type, a projection type, or a highintensity discharge (HID) type, differently than an LED type, separateLEDs may be provided.

The light receiver 420 of the recharging system of the electric vehiclemay function as a receiver in execution of visible light communication.In some cases, the light receiver 420 may be omitted.

The wireless charging unit 430 may include an electric power receiverfor receiving electric power in a wireless manner, a main battery, and abattery charger for recharging the main battery with electric powerreceived via the electric power receiver. The electric power receivermay be embodied as a charging pad including a coil.

The wireless communication unit 440 executes exchange of data with thewireless charger through wireless connection using a wirelesscommunication technology such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

The controller 450 controls the light emitter 410 to transmit, to thewire less charger, identification information required for the wirelesscharger to attempt connection to the wireless communication unit 440.The controller 450 may also output information corresponding to positionguide information received from the light receiver 420 through a cluster(not shown) or an audio-video navigation (AVN) system (not shown). Inaddition, the controller 450 may receive charger information via thelight receiver 420, and may control wireless connection to the wirelesscharger via the wireless communication unit 440, using the receivedcharger information. The controller 450 may also execute variousdetermination and calculation according to the above-describedembodiments, and may control other constituent elements associatedtherewith.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention can be realizedas code, which can be written on a recording medium that can be read bya processor equipped in the home appliance and can be read by aprocessor. The recording medium that can be read by a processor includesall kinds of recording media, on which data that can be read by aprocessor is written, such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid statedisk (SSD), a silicon disk drive (SDD), a read only memory (ROM), arandom access memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, anoptical data storage, and a carrier wave type (e.g., transmission overthe Internet).

In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention, thefollowing effects are provided.

Since retrieval of a wireless charger is carried out in a vehicle to bewirelessly recharged, through visible light communication, correctmatching of the vehicle with the wireless charger may be achieved and,as such, wireless connection between the vehicle and the wirelesscharger may be achieved.

In addition, it may be possible to achieve correct guidance to arecharging position and enhanced security by virtue of straightness ofvisible light communication.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the effectsthat can be achieved through the present invention are not limited towhat has been particularly described hereinabove and other advantages ofthe present invention will be more clearly understood from the abovedetailed description.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the inventions. Thus, itis intended that the present invention covers the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless recharging system for use in a vehiclewhich is capable of being engaged with a wireless charger, comprising: alight emitter equipped in the vehicle and configured to transmit avisible light to a wireless charger to thereby inform the wirelesscharger of a vehicle position for wireless charging; a wireless chargingunit for receiving electric power from the wireless charger; a wirelesscommunication unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from thewireless charger in a wireless manner; and a controller for performing acontrol operation to transmit identification information of the wirelesscommunication unit to a light receiver of the wireless charger via thelight emitter, a control operation to receive, from the wirelesscharger, information of the wireless charger when the wireless chargeris connected to the wireless communication unit, using theidentification information, and a control operation to start thewireless charging through the wireless charging unit, using theinformation of the wireless charger.
 2. The wireless recharging systemaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a light receiver equipped inthe vehicle and configured to receive visible light guide informationabout a predetermined parking position from the wireless charger toinduce the vehicle into the predetermined parking position.
 3. Thewireless recharging system according to claim 2, wherein the lightemitter comprises a first light emitter arranged at a left side of afront portion of the vehicle, and a second light emitter arranged at aright side of the front portion of the vehicle, each light emitteremitting visible light have unique identification information.
 4. Thewireless recharging system according to claim 3, wherein: the controllerperforms a control operation to further transmit first identificationinformation corresponding to the first light emitter to the lightreceiver of the wireless charger via the first light emitter; and thecontroller performs a control operation to further transmit secondidentification information corresponding to the second light emitter tothe light receiver of the wireless charger via the second light emitter.5. The wireless recharging system according to claim 4, wherein thelight receiver of the wireless recharging system of the vehiclerecognizes the guide information composed by the wireless charger usingat least one of the received first identification information and secondidentification information.
 6. The wireless recharging system accordingto claim 1, wherein the light emitter comprises a headlight having atleast a portion constituted by a light emitting diode (LED).
 7. Thewireless recharging system according to claim 1, wherein theidentification information of the wireless communication unit comprisesat least one of a Bluetooth device address (BD_ADDR), a Wi-Fi mediaaccess control (MAC) address, and a wireless access password.
 8. Amethod for controlling a wireless recharging system for use in a vehiclewhich is capable of being engaged with a wireless charger, comprising:transmitting a visible light to a wireless charger via a light emitterto thereby inform the wireless charger of a vehicle position forwireless charging; receiving, from the wireless charger, information ofthe wireless charger when the wireless charger is connected to thevehicle; and starting the wireless charging through the wirelesscharging unit, using the information of the wireless charger.
 9. Themethod according to claim 8, further comprising: receiving visible lightguide information about a predetermined parking position from thewireless charger via a light receiver of the vehicle to induce thevehicle into the predetermined parking position.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 9, wherein the light emitter comprises a first lightemitter arranged at a left side of a front portion of the vehicle, and asecond light emitter arranged at a right side of the front portion ofthe vehicle, each light emitter emitting visible light have uniqueidentification information.
 11. The method according to claim 10,wherein the transmitting the identification information of the wirelesscommunication unit to the light receiver of the wireless chargercomprises: transmitting first identification information correspondingto the first light emitter to the light receiver of the wireless chargervia the first light emitter; and transmitting second identificationinformation corresponding to the second light emitter to the lightreceiver of the wireless charger via the second light emitter.
 12. Themethod according to claim 11, wherein the light receiver of the wirelessrecharging system of the vehicle recognizes the guide informationcomposed by the wireless charger using at least one of the receivedfirst identification information and second identification information.13. The method according to claim 8, wherein the light emitter comprisesa headlight having at least a portion constituted by a light emittingdiode (LED).
 14. The method according to claim 8, wherein theidentification information of the wireless communication unit comprisesat least one of a Bluetooth device address (BD_ADDR), a Wi-Fi mediaaccess control (MAC) address, and a wireless access password.
 15. Avehicle including a battery system capable of being charged through awireless charger, comprising: a parking position adjuster configured totransmit to and receive from the wireless charger visible lightregarding vehicle's position and wireless charger's position to therebyshare the vehicle's position and the wireless charger's position witheach other and induce the vehicle into a predetermined parking positionfor wireless charging; a wireless charging unit for receiving electricpower from the wireless charger; a wireless communication unit fortransmitting and receiving data to and from the wireless charger in awireless manner; and a controller for performing a control operation totransmit identification information of the wireless communication unitto a light receiver of the wireless charger via the parking positionadjuster, a control operation to receive, from the wireless charger,information of the wireless charger when the wireless charger isconnected to the wireless communication unit, using the identificationinformation, and a control operation to start the wireless chargingthrough the wireless charging unit, using the information of thewireless charger.